“When we voted for this—and there were 28
Republican Senators who voted for this—we all knew that there would come
a day of reckoning, that we would have to sit down and
compromise,” said McCaskill, a senior member of the Armed Services
Committee. “And I certainly hope the dramatic testimony today will help
get us to that place. We will not avoid the consequences of these cuts
for our military if we just draw lines in the
sand … so sign me up for the compromise, for painful cuts, and some
revenue.”
McCaskill also used the hearing to remind her
colleagues that the leading Republicans in both the Senate and U.S.
House voted to pass the
Budget Control Act—the legislation which included the threat of
automatic spending cuts in order to force a compromise plan to address
the national debt.
Today’s hearing included the top officials of
the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and National Guard, as
well as General Martin E. Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff.
On March 1, if no action is taken by
Congress, the Pentagon must begin cutting $42.5 billion from its
budget—a move that today’s panel said would have a harmful effect
on military readiness and operations. McCaskill is working with other
Senators in the hope of developing a plan that would replace the
automatic cuts—or, sequester—with targeted budget cuts and ending
unnecessary tax breaks for large corporations.
McCaskill has
consistently called for a balanced, bipartisan, compromise plan to replace the automatic cuts, and has also been a leader in requiring the Pentagon to spend
taxpayer dollars more wisely.
In 2011, McCaskill chaired an
Armed Services Committee hearing
aimed at saving taxpayer dollars by reviewing the
Pentagon's financial management practices and its progress in achieving a
full audit of U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) finances.
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